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National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2025

02/24/2025
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National Eating Disorder Awareness Week is February 24 – March 2 and we have put together a reading list that explores topics related to anti-fat bias, body image, diet culture, and fat phobia. All of these books can be found in our collection and are on display at the Dana Health Sciences Library during this awareness week. See a full list with descriptions below.  


Cover ArtFat talk by Sole-Smith, Virginia

"By the time they reach kindergarten, most kids have learned that "fat" is bad. As they get older, kids learn to pursue thinness in order to survive in a world that ties our body size to our value. Multibillion-dollar industries thrive on consumers believing that we don't want to be fat. Our weight-centric medical system pushes "weight loss" as a prescription, while ignoring social determinants of health and reinforcing negative stereotypes about the motives and morals of people in larger bodies. And parents today, having themselves grown up in the confusion of modern diet culture, worry equally about the risks of our kids caring too much about being "thin" and about what happens if our kids are fat. Sole-Smith shows how the reverberations of this messaging and social pressures on young bodies continue well into adulthood--and what we can do to fight them. Fat Talk argues for a reclaiming of "fat," which is not synonymous with "unhealthy," "inactive," or "lazy." Talking to researchers and activists, as well as parents and kids across a broad swath of the country, Sole-Smith lays bare how America's focus on solving the "childhood obesity epidemic" has perpetuated a second crisis of disordered eating and body hatred for kids of all sizes. She exposes our society's internalized fatphobia and elucidates how and why we need to stop "preventing obesity" and start supporting kids in the bodies they have. Continuing conversations started by works like Girls & Sex, Under Pressure, and Essential Labor, Fat Talk is a stirring, deeply researched, and groundbreaking book that will help parents learn to reckon with their own body biases, identify diet culture messaging, and ultimately empower their kids to navigate this challenging landscape. Sole-Smith offers an alternative framework for parenting around food and bodies, and a way for us all to work toward a more weight-inclusive world--because it's not our kids, or their bodies, who need fixing"
 

Cover ArtWhat we don't talk about when we talk about fat by Gordon, Aubrey

Anti-fatness is everywhere. In What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, Aubrey Gordon unearths the cultural attitudes and social systems that have led to people being denied basic needs because they are fat and calls for social justice movements to be inclusive of plus-sized people's experiences. Unlike the recent wave of memoirs and quasi self-help books that encourage readers to love and accept themselves, Gordon pushes the discussion further towards authentic fat activism, which includes ending legal weight discrimination, giving equal access to health care for large people, increased access to public spaces, and ending anti-fat violence. As she argues, "I did not come to body positivity for self-esteem. I came to it for social justice." By sharing her experiences as well as those of others--from smaller fat to very fat people--she concludes that to be fat in our society is to be seen as an undeniable failure, unlovable, unforgivable, and morally condemnable. Fatness is an open invitation for others to express disgust, fear, and insidious concern. To be fat is to be denied humanity and empathy. Studies show that fat survivors of sexual assault are less likely to be believed and less likely than their thin counterparts to report various crimes; 27% of very fat women and 13% of very fat men attempt suicide; over 50% of doctors describe their fat patients as "awkward, unattractive, ugly and noncompliant"; and in 48 states, it's legal--even routine--to deny employment because of an applicant's size. Advancing fat justice and changing prejudicial structures and attitudes will require work from all people. What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat is a crucial tool to create a tectonic shift in the way we see, talk about, and treat our bodies, fat and thin alike.
 

Cover ArtUnshrinking by Manne, Kate

The definitive takedown of fatphobia, drawing on personal experience as well as rigorous research to expose how size discrimination harms everyone, and how to combat it--from the acclaimed author of Down Girl and Entitled. For as long as she can remember, Kate Manne has wanted to be smaller. She can tell you what she weighed on any significant occasion: her wedding day, the day she became a professor, the day her daughter was born. She's been bullied and belittled for her size, leading to extreme dieting. As a feminist philosopher, she wanted to believe that she was exempt from the cultural gaslighting that compels so many of us to ignore our hunger. But she was not. Blending intimate stories with the trenchant analysis that has become her signature, Manne shows why fatphobia has become a vital social justice issue. Over the last several decades, implicit bias has waned in every category, from race to sexual orientation, except one: body size. Manne examines how anti-fatness operates--how it leads us to make devastating assumptions about a person's attractiveness, fortitude, and intellect, and how it intersects with other systems of oppression. Fatphobia is responsible for wage gaps, medical neglect, and poor educational outcomes; it is a straitjacket, restricting our freedom, our movement, our potential. In this urgent call to action, Manne proposes a new politics of "body reflexivity"--a radical reevaluation of who our bodies exist in the world for: ourselves and no one else. When it comes to fatphobia, the solution is not to love our bodies more. Instead, we must dismantle the forces that control and constrain us, and remake the world to accommodate people of every size.
 

Cover ArtYou have the right to remain fat by Tovar, Virgie

Growing up as a fat girl, Virgie Tovar believed that her body was something to be fixed. But after two decades of dieting and constant guilt, she was over it--and gave herself the freedom to trust her own body again. Ever since, she's been helping others to do the same. Tovar is hungry for a world where bodies are valued equally, food is free from moral judgment, and you can jiggle through life with respect. In concise and candid language, she delves into unlearning fatphobia, dismantling sexist notions of fashion, and how to reject diet culture's greatest lie: that fat people need to wait before beginning their best lives.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtFraming fat : competing constructions in contemporary culture by Kwan, Samantha

According to public health officials, obesity poses significant health risks and has become a modern-day epidemic. A closer look at this so-called epidemic, however, suggests that there are multiple perspectives on the fat body, not all of which view obesity as a health hazard. Alongside public health officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are advertisers of the fashion-beauty complex, food industry advocates at the Center for Consumer Freedom, and activists at the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Framing Fat takes a bird's-eye view of how these multiple actors construct the fat body by identifying the messages these groups put forth, particularly where issues of beauty, health, choice and responsibility, and social justice are concerned. Samantha Kwan and Jennifer Graves examine how laypersons respond to these conflicting messages and illustrate the gendered, raced, and classed implications within them. In doing so, they shed light on how dominant ideas about body fat have led to the moral indictment of body nonconformists, essentially "framing" them for their fat bodies.
 
 

Cover ArtFat shame : stigma and the fat body in American culture by Farrell, Amy Erdman

Locating the origins of the cultural denigration of fatness in the mid 19th century, Amy Erdman Farrell argues that the stigma associated with a fat body preceded any health concerns about a large body size. Farrell draws on a wide array of sources, including political cartoons, popular literature, postcards, advertisements, and physician's manuals to explore the link between our historic denigration of fatness and our contemporary concern over obesity. She explores the ways that those who seek to shed stigmatized identities, whether of gender, race, ethnicity or class, often take part in weight reduction schemes and fat mockery in order to validate themselves as "civilized."
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe body is not an apology : the power of radical self-love by Taylor, Sonya Renee

Humans are a varied and divergent bunch with all manner of beliefs, morals, and bodies. Systems of oppression thrive off our inability to make peace with difference and injure the relationship we have with our own bodies. The Body Is Not an Apology offers radical self-love as the balm to heal the wounds inflicted by these violent systems. World-renowned activist and poet Sonya Renee Taylor invites us to reconnect with the radical origins of our minds and bodies and celebrate our collective, enduring strength. As we awaken to our own indoctrinated body shame, we feel inspired to awaken others and to interrupt the systems that perpetuate body shame and oppression against all bodies. When we act from this truth on a global scale, we usher in the transformative opportunity of radical self-love, which is the opportunity for a more just, equitable, and compassionate world--for us all. This second edition includes stories from Taylor's travels around the world combating body terrorism and shines a light on the path toward liberation guided by love. In a brand new final chapter, she offers specific tools, actions, and resources for confronting racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. And she provides a case study showing how radical self-love not only dismantles shame and self-loathing in us but has the power to dismantle entire systems of injustice. Together with the accompanying workbook, Your Body Is Not an Apology, Taylor brings the practice of radical self-love to life.
 
 
 

Cover ArtFat girls in black bodies : creating communities of our own by Cox, Joy

Combatting fatphobia and racism to reclaim a space of belonging at the intersection of fat, Black, and female. into three sections--"belonging," "resistance," and "acceptance"--and informed by personal history, community stories, and deep research, Fat Girls in Black Bodies breaks down the myths, stereotypes, tropes, and outright lies we've been sold about race, body size, belonging, and health. Cox's razor-sharp cultural commentary exposes the racist roots of diet culture, healthism, and the ways we erroneously conflate body size with personal responsibility. She explores how to reclaim space and create belonging in a hostile world, pushing back against tired pressures of "going along just to get along," and dismantles the institutionally ingrained myths about race, size, gender, and worth that deny fat Black women their selfhood.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtFearing the black body : the racial origins of fat phobia by Strings, Sabrina

There is an obesity epidemic in this country and poor black women are particularly stigmatized as "diseased" and a burden on the public health care system. This is only the most recent incarnation of the fear of fat black women, which Sabrina Strings shows took root more than two hundred years ago. Strings weaves together an eye-opening historical narrative ranging from the Renaissance to the current moment, analyzing important works of art, newspaper and magazine articles, and scientific literature and medical journals;where fat bodies were once praised;showing that fat phobia, as it relates to black women, did not originate with medical findings, but with the Enlightenment era belief that fatness was evidence of "savagery" and racial inferiority. The author argues that the contemporary ideal of slenderness is, at its very core, racialized and racist. Indeed, it was not until the early twentieth century, when racialized attitudes against fatness were already entrenched in the culture, that the medical establishment began its crusade against obesity. An important and original work, Fearing the Black Body argues convincingly that fat phobia isn't about health at all, but rather a means of using the body to validate race, class, and gender prejudice.
 

Cover ArtThings no one will tell fat girls : a handbook for unapologetic living by Baker, Jes

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls is a manifesto and call to arms for women of all sizes and ages. With smart and sassy eloquence, veteran blogger Jes Baker calls on women to be proud of their bodies, fight against fat-shaming, and embrace a body-positive worldview to change public perceptions and help women maintain mental health. With the same straightforward tone that catapulted her to national attention when she wrote a public letter addressing the sexist comments of Abercrombie & Fitch's CEO, Jes shares personal experiences along with in-depth research in a way that is approachable, digestible, and empowering. Featuring notable guest authors, Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls is an invitation for all women to reject fat prejudice, learn to love their bodies, and join the most progressive, and life-changing revolution there is: the movement to change the world by loving their bodies.
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe body liberation project : how understanding racism and diet culture helps cultivate joy and build collective freedom by King, Chrissy

When King first joined a gym, she fell into the all-too-common cycle of "not enough-ness": no matter what she achieves, there was always something she felt she needed to change about her body, her appearance, herself. She came to understand that diet and fitness industries rooted in white supremacy were the problem: Euro-centric beauty standards were the problem. Here King shares the wisdom, the tools, and the inspiration to motivate readers to find body liberation. Even more important, to pass it on.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtMore of you the fat girl's field guide to the modern world by Beck, Amanda Martinez

Too often, fatness has been viewed as a moral failing. Fat Christian women in particular are shamed and marginalized by the message that they are failing God because they can't change their bodies. More of You will challenge that status quo, teaching readers to resist the shame and guilt that is pressed onto them by the world and instead to embrace their bodies, take up space, and learn to navigate the world in ways that allow them to flourish. With wit and candor, Amanda Martinez Beck, a fat woman herself, compiles her hard-won wisdom to give the skinny on thriving in a fat body to others who have been pushed to the margins of acceptance. Offering helpful tools like The Fat Girl's Bill of Rights and a script for a weight-neutral doctor's visit, this book addresses real needs in the fat acceptance community, from how to find self-love in a thin-obsessed world, to navigating a world built for butts smaller than yours, to advocating for equality and justice for fat women's medical care.
 
 
 

Cover ArtUnashamed : musings of a fat, black Muslim by Vernon, Leah

Ever since she was little, Leah Vernon was told what to believe and how to act. There wasn't any room for imperfection. Good Muslim girls listened more than they spoke. They didn't have a missing father or a mother with mental illness. They didn't have fat bodies or grow up wishing they could be like the white characters they saw on TV. They didn't have husbands who abused and cheated on them. They certainly didn't have secret abortions. In Unashamed, Vernon takes to task the myth of the perfect Muslim woman with frank dispatches on her love-hate relationship with her hijab and her faith, race, weight, mental illness, domestic violence, sexuality, the millennial world of dating, and the process of finding her voice. She opens up about her tumultuous adolescence living at the poverty line with her fiercely loving but troubled mother, her deadbeat dad, and her siblings, and the violent dissolution of her 10-year marriage. Tired of the constant policing of her clothing in the name of Islam and Western beauty standards, Vernon reflects on her experiences with hustling paycheck to paycheck, body-shaming, and redefining what it means to be a "good" Muslim"
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtBody stories in and out and with and through fat

Body stories capture a nuanced, interconnected, interactive, and complex telling of our understanding, perception, and experience of and through our bodies. Plenty has been published on body image but image suggests a static fixed body, unmitigated through our social interactions and varying times and spaces. This book is not a "how-to" guide for fat confidence. It's not a compendium of fat suffering. It's simply a collection of narratives about what it's like to survive in a weight-hating world. It resists the ways that marginalized bodies are being written and researched and put into other people's ideas about our existence. The stories in this book are celebratory and are painful. They look at intersections of race and queerness; they destabilize womanhood by presenting a range of possible female embodiments. They explore issues of disability and madness. The full range of possibilities that are collected here give a picture of what it means to live in a society with strong and powerful messages about size, about normalcy, about what a moral and healthy life and body look like. This book is a snapshot of its place and time, but these stories remind us that we're here to stay. The body stories will change but we will keep owning our own narratives. While story, especially written by women, is often seen as outside the academic canon, these stories, these creative offerings, are theory, are research, and are activism. They are nothing less than the blueprint for liberation. Writing about fat and about bodies outside of medicalized narratives, without ignoring the impact of race, sexuality, class, ability, gender, fashion, appearance, and beyond, is radical and rigorous. It is impossible to think about the future without wishing for liberation. Liberation can come in many forms. It can mean an awareness, the ability to confront. The stories in this book display the ways that liberation isn't a finish line or a thing we can complete—rather it is a million small actions
 

Cover ArtThe full body project by Nimoy, Leonard

In his provocative new book, photographer and actor Leonard Nimoy captures images of full-bodied women, some of whom are involved in what is known as the "fat acceptance" movement. "The average American woman," Nimoy writes, "weighs 25 percent more than the models selling the clothes. There is a huge industry built up around selling women ways to get their bodies closer to the fantasy ideal. Pills, diets, surgery, workout programs. . . . The message is 'You don't look right. If you buy our product, you can get there.'" Leonard Nimoy, best known to the public from his role as Spock on Star Trek, has been a lifelong photographer. His work has been widely exhibited and is in numerous private and public collections. A previous book of his photographs, Shekhina, was published in 2002.
 

Cover ArtSupporting fat birth supporting body positive birth by Silver, A. J.

This pioneering guide provides birth professionals, pregnant people, and advocates with comprehensive insight into navigating conception, pregnancy, birth, and the perinatal period whilst fat. Drawing on the author's decade of experience as well as evidence-based research and case studies from people sharing their own perspectives and stories, this authoritative and compassionate book provides practical and effective advice on how to improve quality of care for fat parents. It covers a wide range of topics across the birth journey and beyond including interviews with a number of high-profile people including Nicola Salmon and Amber Marshall and empowers readers to feel reassured and confident in their choices and rights. This ground-breaking resource challenges the pervasive bias against fat service users in the birthing world and acts as a call to action to dismantle the fatphobic stigma present in our healthcare systems in order to create an environment that is inclusive of all bodies.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtIt's always been ours : rewriting the story of Black women's bodies by Wilson, Jessica

A dietitian, storyteller, and community organizer offers a cultural discussion of body image, food, health and wellness by focusing on the bodies of Black women and how our culture's obsession with thin, white women reinforces racist ideas and ideals.
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June is Pride month! UVM Libraries is celebrating with these new books in our collection featuring LGBTQIA+ stories and histories. Check-out our physical display in the Howe Library Lobby for even more books like these!


Cover ArtQueer as folklore : the hidden queer history of myths and monsters by Coward, Sacha

Leaving no headstone unturned, Sacha Coward will take you on a wild ride through the night from ancient Greece to the main stage of RuPaul's Drag Race, visiting cross-dressing pirates, radical fairies and the graves of the 'queerly departed' along the way. Queer communities have often sought refuge in the shadows, found kinship in the in-between and created safe spaces in underworlds; but these forgotten narratives tell stories of remarkable resilience that deserve to be heard. Join any Pride march and you are likely to see a glorious display of papier-ḿcȟ unicorn heads trailing sequins, drag queens wearing mermaid tails and more fairy wings than you can shake a trident at. But these are not just accessories: they are queer symbols with historic roots. To truly understand who queer people are today, we must confront the twisted tales of the past and Queer as Folklore is a celebration of queer history like you've never seen it before.
 
 
 

Cover ArtHow we make each other : trans life at the edge of the university by Zurn, Perry

Perry Zurn's How We Make Each Other reframes the common narrative of trans life in the university, centering not on trans-inclusive policies, but on the community building that takes places at the edges of campus life. Building on extensive archival and interview work in and around the Five Colleges of Massachusetts's Pioneer Valley-Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and UMass-Zurn examines the ways in which quotidian trans relationships produce moments collective resistance, such as protests, as well as tangible advancements in inclusivity, such as gender neutral bathroom signs.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe fox spirit, the stone maiden, and other transgender histories from late imperial China by Sommer, Matthew Harvey

In Transgender in Imperial China, Matthew Sommer offers a close reading of a series of remarkable, well-documented court cases from the 18th and 19th century Qing dynasty legal archives that deal with sex and gender difference. The book explores practices in their specific historical context and avoids imposing trans-historical identities on people in the past, understanding, in the vein of Susan Stryker's work, that "transgender people" are those who "move away from" the gender assigned at birth and "cross over" the gender boundaries imposed by their society, without assuming any specific motivation or destination for that movement. Sommer details the experience of individuals assigned male at birth who were living as women (and were punished very harshly for the crime of "masquerading in women's attire"), but also includes under the sign "transgender" a range of personae not usually considered in this context, such as cross-dressing "boy actresses" of the opera and those who "left the family" by becoming Buddhist or Daoist clergy or eunuchs in imperial service and renouncing normative gender roles based on marriage and procreation. These cases explore a range of themes in Chinese law, society, and culture, and illuminate how many forms of gender transgression were sanctioned by law in Qing society. In considering all of these scenarios together, Sommer's book unpacks the full story of how sex and gender were understood in the Qing era.
 

Cover ArtQueer spaces an atlas of LGBTQIA+ places and stories by Furman, Adam Nathaniel (Editor); Mardell, Joshua (Editor)

An independent bookshop in Glasgow. An ice cream parlour in Havana, where strawberry is the queerest choice. A cathedral in ruins in Managua, occupied by the underground LGBTQIA+ community. Queer people have always found ways to exist and be together, and there will always be a need for queer spaces. In this lavishly illustrated volume, Adam Nathaniel Furman and Joshua Mardell have gathered together a community of contributors to share stories of spaces that range from the educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated, and many more besides. With historic, contemporary and speculative examples from around the world, Queer Spaces recognises LGBTQIA+ life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy of its own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives. Featured spaces include: Black Lesbian and Gay Centre, London Category Is Books, Glasgow Christopher Street, New York Coppelia, Havana New Sazae, Tokyo ONE Institute for Homophile Studies, Los Angeles Pop-Up spaces, Dhaka Queer House Party, Online Santiago Apóstol Cathedral, Managua Trans Memory Archive, Buenos Aires Victorian Pride Centre, Melbourne

Cover ArtQueer style : including a chapter on trans* and fluid style by Geczy, Adam

Queer Style: Revised and Updated Edition by Adam Geczy and Vicki Karaminas explores the evolution of queer fashion and its cultural significance. The book examines historical and contemporary styles within the LGBTQ+ community, including lesbian, gay, and transgender fashion. It discusses the impact of media, film, and popular culture on queer visibility and expression. The authors aim to highlight the diversity and fluidity of queer styles, while addressing issues of identity and representation. This updated edition includes new chapters on trans* and fluid fashion, making it relevant for scholars, students, and those interested in fashion studies and queer culture.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe deep dark by Ostertag, Molly Knox

High school senior Magdalena Herrera already has adult responsibilities and a deadly secret hidden in the dark of the basement, one that drains her of energy and leaves her bleeding--until the return of her childhood friend, Nessa, forces her to face her secrets.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe secret public : how LGBTQ performers shaped popular culture (1955-1979) by Savage, Jon

This monumental history of the LGBTQ influence on popular culture is an electrifying account of key moments in music and entertainment history between 1955 and 1979. From the secret sexuality of stars such as Little Richard in the 1950s through to the ambiguity of David Bowie, glam rock and Sylvester's 'You make me feel (Mighty Real)', Jon Savage reflects on the figures and events that helped move LGBTQ culture from the margins to the mainstream and changed the face of pop forever. The secret public is a searching examination of the fortitude and resilience of the LGBTQ community through the lens of popular music and culture. It reflects on the freedom found in divergence from the norm and reminds us of the need to be vigilant against those seeking to roll back the rights of marginalized groups.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtIn transition : young adult literature and transgender representation by Corbett, Emily

The first book-length work of its kind, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation examines the shift in the young adult book market towards increased representation of transgender characters and authors. Through a comprehensive exploration of historical conventions, genres, character diversity, and ideologies of trans representation, Emily Corbett traces the roots of trans literature from its beginnings in a cisgender-dominated publishing world to the recent rise in trans creators, characters, and implied readers. Corbett describes how trans-ness was initially perceived as an issue to be overcome by cisgender authors and highlights the ways in which the market has changed. Through careful analysis of texts that have until now received little scholarly attention, Corbett weaves together different theoretical approaches and fields of study to provide a map of the textual and cultural histories of this twenty-first-century publishing phenomenon. Focusing on trans authorship, authentic storytelling, and intersectional diversity, this book charts changing public attitudes, the YA book market, and the unique sociocultural moment in which these books are published. In Transition contributes new perspectives on the intersections of adolescence and trans-ness and sheds light on a dynamic subset of YA literature that has yet to receive sustained analysis.
 

Cover ArtSpent : a comic novel by Bechdel, Alison

In Alison Bechdel's hilariously skewering and gloriously cast new comic novel confection, a cartoonist named Alison Bechdel, running a pygmy goat sanctuary in Vermont, is existentially irked by a climate-challenged world and a citizenry on the brink of civil war. She wonders: Can she pull humanity out of its death spiral by writing a scathingly self-critical memoir about her own greed and privilege? Meanwhile, Alison's first graphic memoir about growing up with her father, a taxidermist who specialized in replicas of Victorian animal displays, has been adapted into a highly successful TV series. It's a phenomenon that makes Alison, formerly on the cultural margins, the envy of her friend group (recognizable as characters, now middle-aged and living communally in Vermont, from Bechdel's beloved comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For). As the TV show Death and Taxidermy racks up Emmy after Emmy--and when Alison's Pauline Bunyanesque partner Holly posts an instructional wood-chopping video that goes viral--Alison's own envy spirals. Why couldn't she be the writer for a critically lauded and wildly popular reality TV show...like Queer Eye...showing people how to free themselves from consumer capitalism and live a more ethical life?!! Spent's rollicking and masterful denouement--making the case for seizing what's true about life in the world at this moment, before it's too late--once again proves that "nobody does it better" (New York Times Book Review) than the real Alison Bechdel.
 

Cover ArtThe rainbow age of television : an opinionated history of queer TV by Warner, Shayna Maci

With the last decade's television boom across a multitude of platforms, producing hundreds of network and streaming series, American audiences are being treated to a cascade of shows that some have trumpeted as a second Golden Age. But something completely new is stirring, too--the Rainbow Age. For the first time in the history of American television, we have shows in which LGBTQIA+ characters have evolved from being an anomaly to being an almost given and celebrated presence on the small screen. But what more can queer TV do? Is each new queer character really breaking ground? And has the curse of the fictional dead lesbian finally been defeated? The Rainbow Age of Television tackles these questions and more as author Shayna Maci Warner tracks the history and evolution of LGBTQIA+ icons across the televised ages and into the future of streaming--from the very first televised queer kiss (we think) to the shows that are making household names and heroes of queer characters today. Warner uses original interviews with queer TV icons such as Lilly Wachowski and Stephanie Beatriz along with detailed history to investigate the constraints under which queer people have been allowed to exist on American television. Surveying seventy-plus years of broadcasts, The Rainbow Age of Television explores why queer people are so invested in--and conflicted by--the kinds of storytelling that TV has to offer. Above all, it's a celebration of the LGBTQIA+ shows, their characters, and their creators that define this new age in television.
 

Cover ArtBoys weekend by Lubchansky, Mattie

Newly-out trans artist's assistant Sammie is invited to an old friend's bachelor weekend in El Campo, a hedonistic wonderland of a city floating in the Atlantic Ocean's international waters -- think Las Vegas with even fewer rules. Though they have not identified as a man for over a year, Sammie's old friends haven't quite gotten the message -- as evidenced by their former best friend Adam asking them to be his "best man." Arriving at the swanky hotel, Sammie immediately questions their decision to come. Bad enough that they have to suffer through a torrent of passive-aggressive comments from the groom's pals -- all met with zero pushpack from supposed "nice guy" Adam. But also, they seem to be the only one who's noticed the mysterious cult that's also staying at the hotel, and is ritually dismembering guests and demanding fealty to their bloodthirsty god. Part satire, part horror, Boys Weekend explores what it's like to exist as a transfemme person in a man's world, the difficulty of maintaining friendships through transition, and the more cult-like effects of masculinity, "hustle" culture, and capitalism -- all through the vibrant lens of a surreal, scary, and immensely imaginative romp.
 
 

Cover ArtCorey Fah does social mobility : a novel by Waidner, Isabel

This is the story of Corey Fah, a writer who has hit the literary jackpot: their novel has just won the prize for the Fictionalization of Social Evils. But the actual trophy, and with it the funds, hovers peskily out of reach. Neon-beige, with UFO-like qualities, the elusive trophy leads Corey, with their partner Drew and eight-legged companion Bambi Pavok, on a spectacular quest through their childhood in the Forest and an unlikely stint on reality TV. Navigating those twin horrors, along with wormholes and time loops, Corey learns--the hard way--the difference between a prize and a gift. Following the Goldsmiths Prize-winning Sterling Karat Gold, Isabel Waidner's bold and buoyant new novel is about coming into one's own, the labor of love, the tendency of history to repeat itself, and what ensues when a large amount of cultural capital is suddenly deposited in a place it has never been before.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtOutskirts : queer experiences on the fringe by Compton, D'Lane R. (Editor); Stone, Amy L. (Editor)

Outskirts is an edited volume from sociology scholars that addresses the complexity of the queer experience in diverse spaces, places, and identities in the United States.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtLGBT Victorians : sexuality and gender in the nineteenth-century archives by Joyce, Simon

We think of those whose primary self-definition is in terms of sexuality (lesbians, gay men, bisexuals) and those for whom it is gender identity (intersex and transgender people, genderqueers) as simultaneously in coalition and distinct from each other. Re-examining how the Victorians considered such identity categories to have produced and shaped each other can ground a more durable basis for strengthening our present LGBTQ+ coalition. LGBT Victorians reconsiders the significance of sexology and efforts to retrospectively discover transgender people in historical archives, particularly in the gap between what the nineteenth century termed the sodomite and hermaphrodite. It highlights a broad range of individuals (including Anne Lister, and the defendants in the "Fanny and Stella" trial of the 1870s), key thinkers and activists (including Karl-Heinrich Ulrichs and Edward Carpenter), and writers such as Walt Whitman and John Addington Symonds to map the complicated landscape of gender and sexuality in the Victorian period.
 
 

Cover ArtHeartstopper by Oseman, Alice

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork. Absolutely delightful. Sweet, romantic, kind. Beautifully paced. I loved this book. -- Rainbow Rowell, author of Carry On. Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.

Cover ArtIn memoriam by Winn, Alice

It's 1914, and World War I is ceaselessly churning through thousands of young men on both sides of the fight. The violence of the front feels far away to Henry Gaunt, Sidney Ellwood and the rest of their classmates, all of whom are safely ensconced in their idyllic boarding school in the English countryside. They receive weekly dispatches from The Preshutian, their school newspaper, informing them of older classmates killed or wounded in action. Their heroic deaths only make the war more exciting. Gaunt, half-German, is busy fighting his own private battle -- an all-consuming infatuation with his best friend, the gorgeous, rich, charming Ellwood -- not having a clue that Ellwood is pining for him in return. Meanwhile, Gaunt's German mother and twin sister ask him to enlist as an officer in the British army to protect the family from the anti-German attacks they're already facing. Gaunt signs up immediately, relieved to escape his overwhelming feelings for Ellwood. The front is horrific, of course, and though Gaunt tries to dissuade Ellwood from joining him on the battlefield, Ellwood soon rushes to join him, fueled by his education in Greek heroics and romantic wartime poetry. Before long, most of their classmates have followed suit. Once in the trenches, the boys become intimately acquainted with the harsh realities of war. Ellwood and Gaunt find fleeting moments of solace in one other, but their friends are all dying, often in front of them, and no one knows when they'll be next.
 
 

Cover ArtVicious and immoral : homosexuality, the American Revolution, and the trials of Robert Newburgh by McCurdy, John Gilbert

On the eve of the American Revolution, the British army considered the case of a chaplain, Robert Newburgh, who had been accused of having sex with a man. Newburgh's enemies cited his flamboyant appearance, defiance of military authority, and seduction of soldiers as proof of low character. Consumed by fears that the British Empire would be torn asunder, his opponents claimed that these supposed crimes against nature translated to crimes against the king. Historian John Gilbert McCurdy tells this compelling story of male intimacy and provides a glimpse inside eighteenth-century perceptions of queerness. By demanding to have his case heard, Newburgh invoked Enlightenment ideals of equality, arguing passionately that his style of dress and manner should not affect his place in the army or society. His accusers equated queer behavior with rebellion, and his defenders would go on to join the American cause. Newburgh's trial offers some clues to understanding a peculiarity of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century: while gay acts were prohibited by law in much of the British Empire, the newly formed United States was comparatively uninterested in legislating against same-sex intimacy. McCurdy imagines what life was like for a gay man in early America and captures the voices of those who loved and hated Newburgh, revealing how sexuality and revolution informed one another. The book places homosexuality in conversation with the American Revolution, and it dares us to rethink the place of LGBTQ+ people in the founding of the nation.
 

Cover ArtPride puppy! by Stevenson, Robin

A rhyming alphabet book featuring a family who have lost their dog at a Pride parade.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtCanto contigo : a novel by Garza Villa

In a twenty-four-hour span, Rafael Alvarez led North Amistad High School's Mariachi Alma de la Frontera to their eleventh consecutive first-place win in the Mariachi Extravaganza de Nacional; and met, made out with, and almost hooked up with one of the cutest guys he's ever met. Now eight months later, Rafie's ready for one final win. What he didn't plan for is his family moving to San Antonio before his senior year, forcing him to leave behind his group while dealing with the loss of the most important person in his life--his beloved abuelo. Another hitch in his plan: The Selena Quintanilla-Perez Academy's Mariachi Todos Colores already has a lead vocalist, Rey Chavez--the boy Rafie made out with--who now stands between him winning and being the great Mariachi Rafie's abuelo always believed him to be. Despite their newfound rivalry for center stage, Rafie can't squash his feelings for Rey. Now he must decide between the people he's known his entire life or the one just starting to get to know the real him.
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March 30th through April 5th is Public Philosophy Week in Vermont and Howe Library is featuring books in our collection supporting this exciting series of discussions, talks, and more! Whether you want to prep or do further reading on any of the agenda topics, we have books for you. Check out our list below and many more books on display in the Howe Library Lobby. 
 


Cover ArtThe uncanny muse : music, art, and machines from automata to AI by Hajdu, David

An acclaimed critic, journalist, and songwriter-musician tells the story of art's relation to machines, from the Baroque period to the age of AI. What does it mean to be human in a world where machines, too, can be artists? The Uncanny Muse explores the history of automation in the arts and delves into one of the most momentous and controversial aspects of AI: artificial creativity. The adoption of technology and machinery has long transformed the world, but as the potential for artificial intelligence expands, David Hajdu examines the new, increasingly urgent questions about technology's role in culture. From the life-size mechanical doll that made headlines in Victorian London to the doll's modern AI-pop star counterpart, Hajdu traces the fascinating, varied ways in which inventors and artists have sought to emulate mental processes and mechanize creative production. For decades, machines and artists have engaged in expressing the human condition--along with the condition of living with machines--through player pianos, broadcasting technology, electric organs, digital movie effects, synthesizers, and motion capture. By communicating and informing human knowledge, the machines have exerted considerable influence on the history of art--and often more influence than humans have been willing to recognize. As Hajdu proclaims: "before machine learning, there was machine teaching." With thoughtful, wide-ranging, and surprising turns from Berry Gordy and George Harrison to Andy Warhol and Stevie Wonder, David Hajdu takes a novel and contrarian approach: he sees how machines through the ages have enabled creativity, not stifled it--and The Uncanny Muse sees no reason why this shouldn't be the case with AI today.
 

Cover ArtFood, ethics, and society : an introductory text with readings

Food, Ethics, and Society: An Introductory Text with Readings presents seventy-three readings that address real-world ethical issues at the forefront of the food ethics debate. Topics covered include hunger, food justice, consumer ethics, food and identity, food and religion, raising plants and animals, food workers, overconsumption, obesity, and paternalism. The selections are enhanced by chapter and reading introductions, study questions, and suggestions for further reading. Ideal for both introductory and interdisciplinary courses, Food, Ethics, and Society explains basic philosophical concepts fohttps://uvm.libapps.com/libguides/assets.php#s-lg-icon-tabler new students and forges new ground on several ethical debates.
 
 
 

Cover ArtAs if human : ethics and artificial intelligence

Intelligent machines present us every day with urgent ethical challenges. Is the facial recognition software used by an agency fair? When algorithms determine questions of justice, finance, health, and defense, are the decisions proportionate, equitable, transparent, and accountable? How do we harness this extraordinary technology to empower rather than oppress? Despite increasingly sophisticated programming, artificial intelligences share none of our essential human characteristics—sentience, physical sensation, emotional responsiveness, versatile general intelligence. However, Nigel Shadbolt and Roger Hampson argue, if we assess AI decisions, products, and calls for action as if they came from a human being, we can avert a disastrous and amoral future. The authors go beyond the headlines about rampant robots to apply established moral principles in shaping our AI future. Their new framework constitutes a how-to for building a more ethical machine intelligence.
 
 
 

Cover ArtA life in letters by Weil, Simone

A Life in Letters is an English translation of philosopher Simone Weil's letters to her parents and brother, mathematician André Weil. The letters, pulled from the original French correspondence, provide a road map to Weil's life and an unparalleled view into Weil's work and her relationship with the three people who had the greatest impact on her.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtSpeech and morality : on the metaethical implications of speaking by Cuneo, Terence

Terence Cuneo develops a novel line of argument for moral realism. The argument he defends hinges on the normative theory of speech, according to which speech acts are generated by an agent's altering her normative position with regard to her audience, gaining rights, responsibilities, and obligations of certain kinds. Some of these rights, responsibilities, and obligations, Cuneo suggests, are moral. And these moral features are best understood along realist lines, in part because they explain how it is that we can speak. If this is right, a necessary condition of being able to speak is that there are moral rights, responsibilities, and obligations of a broadly realist sort.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtGod and meaning : new essays

Over the past decade, there has been a growing interest among analytic philosophers in the topic of life's meaning. What is striking about this surge of work is that nearly all of it is by naturalists theorizing from non-theistic starting points. This book answers the need for a theistic philosophical perspective on the meaning of life. Bringing together some of the leading thinkers in analytic philosophy of religion and theology, God and Meaning touches on important issues in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of religion, and biblical theology that intersect with life's meaning. In particular: What does the question "What is the meaning of life?" mean? How can we know if life has meaning and what that meaning is? Might God enhance life's meaningfulness in some ways but detract from it in others? Is the most meaningful life one of perfect happiness? What is the relationship between eternity and life's meaning? How does the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes illumine the topic? Should we hope that a kind of transcendent meaning exists? Presenting a state-of-the-art assessment of current philosophical positions on these and many other questions, God and Meaning is an invaluable resource for all students and scholars of the philosophy of religion.
 
 
 

Cover ArtThomas Reid on the ethical life by Cuneo, Terence

This Element presents the rudiments of Thomas Reid's agency-centered ethical theory. According to this theory, an ethical theory must address three primary questions. What is it to be an agent? What is ethical reality like, such that agents could know it? And how can agents respond to ethical reality, commit themselves to being regulated by it, and act well in doing so? Reid's answers to these questions are wide-ranging, borrowing from the rational intuitionist, sentimentalist, Aristotelian, and Protestant natural law traditions. This Element explores how Reid blends together these influences, how he might respond to concerns raised by rival traditions, and specifies what distinguishes his approach from those of other modern philosophers.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe rhetoric of fascism

Few developments in contemporary politics are more striking than the frequency with which the term "fascist" is used to describe specific actors and groups. This marks a qualitative shift in our political discourse. For decades, "fascist" was an epithet used to brand one's political opponents, regardless of political ideology or governing philosophy, but most often to attack a specific individual. With the rise of extremist parties and candidates in Europe, the U.S., and around the globe, however, even mainstream political commentators have begun using the term "fascism" to describe what they see as a dangerous movement that has revived and repackaged many of the strategies long thought to have been relegated to the margins of political rhetoric. This book defines and interprets the common persuasive devices that characterize fascist discourse to understand the nature of its enduring appeal, and which has resurfaced as one of the most pressing problems of our time. A definition of fascism that guides the contributors here draws from the work of Kenneth Burke: the sustained and systematic deployment of rhetorical devices aimed at promoting the cult of irrationality by identifying both the victimhood and the inborn dignity of a newly crystalized social group, sanctioned by tradition, whose rebirth requires the spiritualization of injustice and internal and external purification through redemptive violence. This definition has much in common with established understandings of fascism, but a rhetorical approach emphasizes less how fascism manifests itself in parties, platforms, regimes, movements, and organizations, but rather on the tendencies in language itself that make these manifestations possible. Introductory chapters focus on general theories of fascism drawn from 20th-century history and theory. The remaining chapters investigate specific historical figures and their relationship to contemporary rhetorics. As indicated by their titles, each chapter focuses on defining a specific rhetorical device that seems characteristic of fascist rhetoric. This book does not promise a comprehensive inquiry into all aspects of fascism. The topics were selected by the authors based on their own expertise and because they illuminate a specific rhetorical device. A reader, by the end, should have acquired many of the conceptual critical resources by which to identify familiar fascist strategies of persuasion and propaganda.
 

Cover ArtThe Oxford handbook of food ethics

Academic food ethics incorporates work from philosophy but also anthropology, economics, the environmental sciences and other natural sciences, geography, law, and sociology. Scholars from these fields have been producing work for decades on the food system, and on ethical, social, and policy issues connected to the food system. Yet in the last several years, there has been a notable increase in philosophical work on these issues-work that draws on multiple literatures within practical ethics, normative ethics and political philosophy. This handbook provides a sample of that philosophical work across multiple areas of food ethics: conventional agriculture and alternatives to it; animals; consumption; food justice; food politics; food workers; and, food and identity.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtMidlife : a philosophical guide by Setiya, Kieran

How can you reconcile yourself with the lives you will never lead, with possibilities foreclosed, and with nostalgia for lost youth? How can you accept the failings of the past, the sense of futility in the tasks that consume the present, and the prospect of death that blights the future? In this self-help book with a difference, Kieran Setiya confronts the inevitable challenges of adulthood and middle age, showing how philosophy can help you thrive. You will learn why missing out might be a good thing, how options are overrated, and when you should be glad you made a mistake. You will be introduced to philosophical consolations for mortality. And you will learn what it would mean to live in the present, how it could solve your midlife crisis, and why meditation helps. Ranging from Aristotle, Schopenhauer, and John Stuart Mill to Virginia Woolf and Simone de Beauvoir, as well as drawing on Setiya's own experience, Midlife combines imaginative ideas, surprising insights, and practical advice. Writing with wisdom and wit, Setiya makes a wry but passionate case for philosophy as a guide to life.
 
 

Cover ArtThe restaurants book : ethnographies of where we eat

Is the restaurant an ideal total social phenomenon for the contemporary world? Restaurants are framed by the logic of the market, but promise experiences not of the market. Restaurants are key sites for practices of social distinction, where chefs struggle for recognition as stars and patrons insist on seeing and being seen. Restaurants define urban landscapes, reflecting and shaping the character of neighborhoods, or standing for the ethos of an entire city or nation. Whether they spread authoritarian French organizational models or the bland standardization of American fast food, restaurants have been accused of contributing to the homogenization of cultures. Yet restaurants have also played a central role in the reassertion of the local, as powerful cultural brokers and symbols for protests against a globalized food system. The Restaurants Book brings together anthropological insights into these thoroughly postmodern places.
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtCultural anthropology : asking questions about humanity by Welsch, Robert Louis; Vivanco, Luis Antonio

What is cultural anthropology, and how is it relevant in today's world? Robert L. Welsch and Luis A. Vivanco's Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity uses a questions-based approach to teach students how to think anthropologically, helping them view cultural issues and everyday experiences as an anthropologist might.Inspired by the common observation that 99 percent of a good answer is a good question, Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity combines a question-centered pedagogy with the topics typically covered in an introductory course. It emphasizes upfront what the discipline of anthropology knows and which issues are in debate, and how a cultural perspective is relevant to understanding social, political, and economic dynamics in the contemporary world. Cultural Anthropology: Asking Questions About Humanity also represents an effort to close the gap between the realities of the discipline today and traditional views that are taught at the introductory level by bringing classic anthropological examples, cases, and analyses to bear on contemporary questions.
 
 

Cover ArtPessoa : a biography by Zenith, Richard

Like Richard Ellmann's James Joyce, Richard Zenith's Pessoa immortalizes the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. Eighty-five years after his wrenching death in a cramped Lisbon apartment, where he left more than 25,000 manuscript sheets in a wooden trunk, Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935) remains one of the most enigmatic and underappreciated poets of the twentieth century. Celebrated for writing in dozens of different poetic voices, known as heteronyms, Pessoa has finally found his definitive biographer in renowned translator Richard Zenith. Setting the story of Pessoa's life against the nationalistic currents of early twentieth-century European history, Zenith charts the depths of Pessoa's explosive imagination and literary genius. Much as José Saramago brought one of Pessoa's heteronyms to life in The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis, Zenith traces the backstories of virtually all of Pessoa's imagined personalities, demonstrating how they were projections, spin-offs, or metamorphoses of Pessoa himself. Nothing less than a literary masterpiece, Zenith's monumental work confirms the power of Pessoa's words to speak prophetically to the disconnectedness of modern life.
 
 
 

Cover ArtWho wrote this? : how AI and the lure of efficiency threaten human writing by Baron, Naomi S.

Would you read this book if a computer wrote it? Would you even know? And why would it matter? Today's eerily impressive artificial intelligence writing tools present us with a crucial challenge: As writers, do we unthinkingly adopt AI's time-saving advantages or do we stop to weigh what we gain and lose when heeding their siren call? To understand how AI is redefining what it means to write and think, linguist and educator Naomi Baron leads us on a journey connecting the dots between human literacy and today's technology. From nineteenth century lessons in composition, to mathematician Alan Turing's work creating a machine for deciphering war-time messages, to contemporary engines like ChatGPT, Baron gives readers a spirited overview of the emergence of both literacy and AI, and a glimpse of their possible future. As the technology becomes increasingly sophisticated and fluent, it's tempting to take the easy way out and let AI do the work for us. Baron cautions that such efficiency isn't always in our interest. As AI plies us with suggestions or full-blown text, we risk losing not just our technical skills but the power of writing as a springboard for personal reflection and unique expression. Funny, informed, and conversational, Who Wrote This? urges us as individuals and as communities to make conscious choices about the extent to which we collaborate with AI. The technology is here to stay. Baron shows us how to work with AI and how to spot where it risks diminishing the valuable cognitive and social benefits of being literate.
 

Cover ArtFundamental things : theory and applications of grounding by DeRosset, Louis

The scientific successes of the last 400 years strongly suggest a view on which things are organized into layers, with phenomena in higher layers dependent on and determined by what goes on below. Philosophers have recently explored the idea that we can make sense of this view by appeal to a relation called grounding. In Fundamental Things, Louis de Rosset develops the rudiments of a theory of grounding and applies that theory to questions concerning the contents of the layers and the relations among them. This theory specifies what grounding is and how it relates to relevant forms of explanation. It addresses arguments for skepticism about grounding and draws points of contrast between a grounding-centered approach to relative fundamentality and other approaches. DeRosset then turns to a demonstration of how the theory of grounding bears fruit in investigating questions concerning (1) how to distinguish between truths that say how objective reality is in itself, quite independently of us, and truths that do not; (2) the nature of truth; and (3) the relation between fundamental physical facts and the rich panoply of other facts that depend on and are determined by them, including facts concerning our own doings. The aim is to advance our understanding of one of the deepest and thorniest questions which the stunning scientific achievements of the last 400 years pose: how higher-level phenomena fit into an ultimately physical world.
 

Cover ArtMaking AI intelligible : philosophical foundations by Cappelen, Herman

Can humans and artificial intelligences share concepts and communicate? Making AI Intelligible shows that philosophical work on the metaphysics of meaning can help answer these questions. Herman Cappelen and Josh Dever use the externalist tradition in philosophy to create models of how AIs and humans can understand each other. In doing so, they illustrate ways in which that philosophical tradition can be improved. The questions addressed in the book are not only theoretically interesting, but the answers have pressing practical implications. Many important decisions about human life are now influenced by AI. In giving that power to AI, we presuppose that AIs can track features of the world that we care about (for example, creditworthiness, recidivism, cancer, and combatants). If AIs can share our concepts, that will go some way towards justifying this reliance on AI. This ground-breaking study offers insight into how to take some first steps towards achieving Interpretable AI.
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe line : AI and the future of personhood by Boyle, James

The line that distinguishes people from animals, systems, and things is getting harder to draw. For all the concern about AI and genetic engineering, there has been surprisingly little discussion of the possible personhood of the new entities this century will bring us: what about their claims to be inside the line, to be "us" -- not machines or animals but persons -- deserving all the moral and legal respect that any other person has by virtue of their status?
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtAI morality

A philosophical task force explores how AI is revolutionizing our lives - and what moral problems it might bring, showing us what to be wary of, and what to be hopeful for.There is no more important issue at present than artificial intelligence. AI has begun to penetrate almost every sphere of human activity. It will disrupt our lives entirely. David Edmonds brings together a team of leading philosophers to explore some of the urgent moral concerns we should have about this revolution. The chapters are rich with examples from contemporary society and imaginative projections of the future. The contributors investigate problems we're all aware of, and introduce some that will be new to many readers. They discuss self and identity, health and insurance, politics and manipulation, the environment, work, law, policing, and defence. Each of them explains the issue in a lively and illuminating way, and takes a view about how we should think and act in response. Anyone who is wondering what ethical challenges the future holds for us can start here.
 
 

Cover ArtChinese culture through legends and fiction : a guided reader by Zhang, Zhenjun

This is a collection of selected and translated Chinese legends and tales arranged under specific topics important to Chinese culture, with an introduction and reading guide for each piece. Comprised of 4 parts covering Confucian culture, Daoist culture, Buddhist culture and topics beyond the Three Teachings, the sources featured in this anthology include legends, fictional works, historical texts, as well as philosophical texts of ancient China, ranging from the Han 漢dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) to the Qing 清dynasty (1644-1911). Helping readers learn about Chinese customs, traditions, and values by immersing them in the wonderful world of traditional China, with the compelling legends and tales revealing the fascinating meshwork of Chinese culture, this book is an invaluable text for students and scholars of Chinese literature, culture and history, as well as general readers with an interest in China.
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Cozy Reads are fiction books with an upbeat, optimistic and light-hearted tone. They often feature a desirable location the reader may like to imagine themselves, hobbies or occupations relatable to the reader, and sometimes romance. Some popular sub-categories include: murder mysteries, craft and hobby mysteries, and culinary mysteries.

Our feature contains perhaps a few books outside this subgenre that we determined complimentary, such as nonfiction works on the Cozy Reads subgenre itself, books on tea, coffee, other new popular fiction titles. Visit the Howe Library Lobby for even more Cozy Reads on display. 


 

Cover ArtVera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers by Sutanto, Jesse Q.

Knives Out meets Kim's Convenience in this captivating mystery by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties. Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady-ah, lady of a certain age-who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing-a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn't know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer. What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?
 
 

 

Cover ArtReading the cozy mystery : critical essays on an underappreciated subgenre by Betz, Phyllis M. (Editor)

With their intimate settings, subdued action and likeable characters, cozy mysteries are rarely seen as anything more than light entertainment. The cozy, a subgenre of crime fiction, has been historically misunderstood and often overlooked as the subject of serious study. This anthology brings together a groundbreaking collection of essays that examine the cozy mystery from a range of critical viewpoints. The authors engage with the standard classification of a cozy, the characters who appear in its pages, the environment where the crime occurs and how these elements reveal the cozy story's complexity in surprising ways. Essays analyze cozy mysteries to argue that Agatha Christie is actually not a cozy writer; that Columbo fits the mold of the cozy detective; and that the stories' portrayals of settings like the quaint English village reveal a more complicated society than meets the eye.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe Christmas jigsaw murders by Benedict, Alexandra

A puzzling new Christmas mystery from USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Benedict! Rest. In. Pieces. On 1st of December, renowned puzzle setter, loner, and Christmas curmudgeon Edie O'Sullivan finds a hand-delivered present on her doorstep. Unwrapping it, she finds a jigsaw box and, inside, six jigsaw pieces. When fitted together, the pieces show part of a crime scene - blood-spattered black and white tiles and part of an outlined body. Included in the parcel is a message: 'Four, maybe more, people will be dead by midnight on Christmas Eve, unless you can put all the pieces together and stop me.' It's signed, Rest In Pieces. Edie contacts her nephew, DI Sean Brand-O'Sullivan, and together they work to solve the clues. But when a man is found near death with a jigsaw piece in his hand, Sean fears that Edie might be in danger and shuts her out of the investigation. As the body count rises, however, Edie knows that only she has the knowledge to put together the killer's murderous puzzle. Only by fitting all the pieces together will Edie be able to stop a killer - and finally lay her past to rest.
 



 
 

Cover ArtKrampus confidential by Sullivan, Kyle

It's almost Christmas, but the nights in Tinseltown are anything but silent. In this hardboiled parody of The Maltese Falcon, Ruprecht, a twelve-year-old krampus and wannabe detective, gets more than he bargained for when he takes the case of a terrified elf. Finding himself at the top of the Tinseltown Police Department's naughty list, Ruprecht is joined by his best friend, a ghost named Marley, to explore the underbelly of this festive but gritty metropolis, solve the mystery, and clear his name for good.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtBefore the coffee gets cold by Kawaguchi, Toshikazu

In a small back alley in Tokyo at a century-old coffee shop rumored to offer patrons the chance to travel back in time, four customers reevaluate their formative life choices.
In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers coffee-- and the chance to travel back in time. Over the course of one summer, four customers visit the café in the hopes of making that journey. There are rules that must be followed. And the most important one: the trip can last only as long as it takes for the coffee to get cold.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtHeartstopper by Oseman, Alice

Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. A sweet and charming coming-of-age story that explores friendship, love, and coming out. This edition features beautiful two-color artwork. Absolutely delightful. Sweet, romantic, kind. Beautifully paced. I loved this book. -- Rainbow Rowell, author of Carry On. Shy and softhearted Charlie Spring sits next to rugby player Nick Nelson in class one morning. A warm and intimate friendship follows, and that soon develops into something more for Charlie, who doesn't think he has a chance. But Nick is struggling with feelings of his own, and as the two grow closer and take on the ups and downs of high school, they come to understand the surprising and delightful ways in which love works.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtTea : a global history by Saberi, Helen

From chai to oolong to sencha, tea is one of the world's most popular beverages. Perhaps that is because it is a unique and adaptable drink, consumed in many different varieties by cultures across the globe and in many different settings, from the intricate traditions of Japanese teahouses to the elegant tearooms of Britain to the verandas of the deep South. In Tea food historian Helen Saberi explores this rich and fascinating history. Saberi looks at the economic and social uses of tea, such as its use as a currency during the Tang Dynasty and the 1913 creation of a tea dance called "Thé Dansant.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtCoffee : a global history by Morris, Jonathan

Most of us can't make it through morning without our cup (or cups) of joe, and we're not alone. Coffee is a global beverage: it's grown commercially on four continents and consumed enthusiastically on all seven--and there is even an Italian espresso machine on the International Space Station. Coffee's journey has taken it from the forests of Ethiopia to the fincas of Latin America, from Ottoman coffee houses to "Third Wave" cafés, and from the simple coffee pot to the capsule machine. In Coffee: A Global History, Jonathan Morris explains both how the world acquired a taste for this humble bean, and why the beverage tastes so differently throughout the world. Sifting through the grounds of coffee history, Morris discusses the diverse cast of caffeinated characters who drank coffee, why and where they did so, as well as how it was prepared and what it tasted like. He identifies the regions and ways in which coffee has been grown, who worked the farms and who owned them, and how the beans were processed, traded, and transported. Morris also explores the businesses behind coffee--the brokers, roasters, and machine manufacturers--and dissects the geopolitics linking producers to consumers. Written in a style as invigorating as that first cup of Java, and featuring fantastic recipes, images, stories, and surprising facts, Coffee will fascinate foodies, food historians, baristas, and the many people who regard this ancient brew as a staple of modern life.
 
 

 

Cover ArtThe Kamogawa food detectives by Kashiwai, Hisashi ; Kirkwood, Jesse (Translator)

What's the one dish you'd do anything to taste just one more time? Down a quiet backstreet in Kyoto exists a very special restaurant. Run by Koishi Kamogawa and her father Nagare, the Kamogawa Diner serves up deliciously extravagant meals. But that's not the main reason customers stop by . . . The father-daughter duo are 'food detectives'. Through ingenious investigations, they are able to recreate dishes from a person's treasured memories - dishes that may well hold the keys to their forgotten past and future happiness. The restaurant of lost recipes provides a link to vanished moments, creating a present full of possibility. A bestseller in Japan, The Kamogawa Food Detectives is a celebration of good company and the power of a delicious meal.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtSomeone you can build a nest in by Wiswell, John

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters intent on murdering her, she constructs a body using a metal chain for a backbone, borrowed bones for limbs, and a bear trap as an extra mouth. However, the hunters chase Shesheshen out of her home and off a cliff. Badly hurt, she's found and nursed back to health by Homily, a warmhearted human, who has mistaken Shesheshen as a fellow human. Homily is kind and nurturing and would make an excellent coparent: an ideal place to lay Shesheshen's eggs so their young could devour Homily from the inside out. But as they grow close, she realizes humans don't think about love that way. Shesheshen hates keeping her identity secret from Homily, but just as she's about to confess, Homily reveals why she's in the area: she's hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Shesheshen didn't curse anyone, but to give herself and Homily a chance at happiness, she has to figure out why Homily's twisted family thinks she did. As the hunt for the monster becomes increasingly deadly, Shesheshen must unearth the truth quickly, or soon both of their lives will be at risk. And the bigger challenge remains: surviving her toxic in-laws long enough to learn to build a life with, rather than in, the love of her life.
 

Cover ArtThe great when by Moore, Alan

The year is 1949, the city London. Amidst the smog of the capital stumbles Dennis Knuckleyard, a hapless eighteen year-old employed by a second-hand bookshop. One day, on an errand to acquire books for sale, Dennis discovers a novel that simply does not exist. It is a fictitious book, a figment from another novel. Yet it is physically there in his hands. How? Dennis has stumbled on a book from the Great When, a magical version of London beyond time and space, where reality blurs with fiction and concepts such as Crime and Poetry are incarnated as wondrous, terrible beings. But this other, magical London must remain a secret: if Dennis cannot find a way to return this book to where it belongs, he risks repercussions, such as his body being turned inside out (or worse). So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers - some from legend, some all too real, and all with plans of their own. Soon Dennis finds himself at the centre of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons forever...
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtWriting the cozy mystery : authors' perspectives on their craft by Betz, Phyllis M.

This book brings together essays written by a number of well-known writers of cozy mysteries, including Sherry Harris, Amanda Flower, Leslie Budewitz, and Edith Maxwell, among others, who provide insight into their approaches to writing. Topics covered include how they work with the form, develop characters and settings, and utilize the particular hook, skill or business that establishes the protagonist's ability to solve crimes. In addition to discussing these traditional aspects of writing, several authors focus on how they have expanded the direction the contemporary cozy mystery has taken with the inclusion of more diverse characters and social issues.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtHow to write a mystery : a handbook from Mystery Writers of America by Mystery Writers of America; Child, Lee (Editor); King, Laurie R. (Editor)

From some of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries, from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe book of tea by Okakura, Kakuzō

A description of the Japanese tea ceremony that evokes Eastern culture as a whole.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Cover ArtThe book that wouldn't burn by Lawrence, Mark

Two strangers find themselves connected by a mysterious and vast library, which contains many wonders and even more secrets, in the powerfully moving first book in a new series from the international bestselling author of Red Sister and Prince of Thorns. On a used-up world where civilisations have risen and retreated in an endless tide, leaving a dusty wasteland in their wake, there is one constant: an ancient library, the repository of all knowledge and art. It also contains a multitude of lives, including those of Evar and Livira.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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